I'm not sure what the 1st tip was but I am pretty sure there was one. The second is based on evolutionary biology. I call it "Darwin Comes to the Dresser: Socksual Selection".

First, you must understand that The Mayan used to sort my socks. She used to iron my skivies too but I would rather that didn't get around. Now that SG and SG Jr. conspired to get The Mayan fired I just get a drawer full of socks. So I am confronted with a dilemma. Sort my ******* socks or retain a precious sliver of free time to waste on timesaver tips. Naturally, I chose the latter and to apply some evolutionary biolgy.

In the morning, I simply pick two socks of a color appropriate to what I am wearing. There are generally three races of socks, your dark blues/blacks, your browns/tans and your whites. The whites pretty much just get worn when I am playing golf (once a year) so I sent them to the Galapagos drawer. Nobody under 75 wears Argyle socks anymore so we shall discount them.

Now, the idea here is to save time, so one can't be picky about a couple of dots or fleur de lis. As a consequence this approach would not be prudent if you are a talking head on TV and have to sit around a coffee table and cross your legs or if you anticipate some team building activity at work that involves taking your shoes off or if you have to get past a TSA checkpoint. If you are going to do it with your sexretary then just take your socks off real fast.

So anyway, when you get down to the bottom of the drawer, any mismatched socks are tossed in the trash bin. Think of it as predation. It's magnificently efficient.

You may freely adopt this strategy at no cost.....and......you are welcome.

The chapter about the Battle of Savo Island was hard to read. They weren't at full readiness. Crappy assumptions. Crappy recon reports. Crappy battle plan. Mistrust of radar. Recon aircraft and aviation fuel sitting on the fantail. Uggh.

Kirishima vs. the crusiers. Awesome fight. A cavalry charge in the dark.

Didn't know the details of the Sullivan brothers or Juneau. Uggh. Almost as bad as Hood.

Sounds like a great book - I hope I can lay my hands on it. I have always been fascinated with the Guadalcanal campaign and have read many books on it. The thing that always stood out for me is how Allied commanders stuck with their familiar line-ahead formation in the face of all evidence that this was a nice target for torps. Meanwhile the Japanese had a series of squadrons operating in nimble formations and following very good night battle doctrine to stay coordinated. It was like watching Ali [Cassius Clay at the time] dance around Liston and just keep stinging without being hit.

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

The chapter about the Battle of Savo Island was hard to read. They weren't at full readiness. Crappy assumptions. Crappy recon reports. Crappy battle plan. Mistrust of radar. Recon aircraft and aviation fuel sitting on the fantail. Uggh.

Kirishima vs. the crusiers. Awesome fight. A cavalry charge in the dark.

Didn't know the details of the Sullivan brothers or Juneau. Uggh. Almost as bad as Hood.

Sounds like a great book - I hope I can lay my hands on it. I have always been fascinated with the Guadalcanal campaign and have read many books on it. The thing that always stood out for me is how Allied commanders stuck with their familiar line-ahead formation in the face of all evidence that this was a nice target for torps. Meanwhile the Japanese had a series of squadrons operating in nimble formations and following very good night battle doctrine to stay coordinated. It was like watching Ali [Cassius Clay at the time] dance around Liston and just keep stinging without being hit.

I enjoyed the book. I think the American commanders were fearful of friendly fire disasters (with good reason as there were several well documented mistargetings). Line ahead in a night fight is the best way to maintain control. Those that came before Lee clearly didn't trust radar either, even when radar-equipped DD's were well ahead as pickets. Savo Island was a disaster with plenty of blame to go around.

Later commanders led with DD's (both as scouts and, probably in the case of Lee, as sacrifical torpedo magnets for the vulenrable BB's).

By all reports Ghormley was overmatched by the job. Halsey was almost too aggressive but got the job done. Funny story about Halsey. When he got to SouPac HQ, he was appalled at how cramped and inadequate the insulated quonset huts were. He sent an aide to the governor of New Caledonia, some French Admiral, to appeal for quarters. He was asked by the governor, "What's in it for me?"

Halsey was incensed. He gathered up some Marines and went downtown and seized the Governor's house.

Lee's rating in AE is well deserved. Not sure what Scott's rating was. He was also a very, very capable commander.

* Is that how you spell "cramped"? And who'da thunk "appalled" has two "p's" and two "l's"? Bah, who cares.

I have seen a picture of Adm. Lee and he had a round face, squinty eyes and wore round spectacles. He did appear to be Chinese [per the caricature at the time] and that may have had something to do with the nickname.

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

Here is Adm. Callaghan who led Task Group 64.7 on the night of Nov 12/13 vs. Kirishima. He drove his crusiers right into the oncoming Kirishima in very poor visibility, knowing full well he was facing at least one BB. Ostensibly it was to close range so the 8 in guns could penterate Kirishima's armor. Thing is he didn't tell anyone so they thought he was crazy.

Kirishima was wrecked. Then he was killed along with his staff and a Lt. Commander took control of San Francisico.

He was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. A bit more polished-looking than Lee

Here is Adm. Callaghan who led Task Group 64.7 on the night of Nov 12/13 vs. Kirishima. He drove his crusiers right into the oncoming Kirishima in very poor visibility, knowing full well he was facing at least one BB. Ostensibly it was to close range so the 8 in guns could penterate Kirishima's armor. Thing is he didn't tell anyone so they thought he was crazy.

Kirishima was wrecked. Then he was killed along with his staff and a Lt. Commander took control of San Francisico.

He was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. A bit more polished-looking than Lee

Slight correction required here - Hiei was the BB that the cruiser/destroyer force crippled. Kirishima was sunk two nights later after Washington smashed her with 9 [US estimates] to 20 [one Japanese source estimate] 16" hits and oodles of 5"ers. The Japanese scuttled her but she likely would have sunk anyways.

Re: Hiei, as with most BBs the armoured area of the hull extended from the aft magazine to the forward magazine and did not include the stern. The Japanese recognized that the rudder mechanism was vulnerable and put a large amount of concrete around it to try protect it. I have never seen a Japanese report confirm that the US 8" shells pierced the side armour, but they did definitely get through the concrete and jam the rudder. Between that and the superstructure riddled with hits and fires, she was wrecked but in no danger of sinking next morning. Then the Marine SBDs & TBFs showed up and by the end of the day the Japanese were forced to scuttle her. See the excellent recounting of the loss of Hiei at: http://www.combinedfleet.com/atully03.htm

Edit - to add a source and correct info about TBF involvement

< Message edited by BBfanboy -- 10/1/2012 5:02:02 AM >

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I have not yet begun to fight! OTOH I have not yet begun to flee. Hmmmmm - choices, choices -always with the choices.

JJ is beginning to stock the cupboard again today at Manado. It's too far for the big bomber force at Darwin so I might have to move the B-24's to Saumlaki which is only level four, lacks the massive avaiation support of Darwin, and is not the right HQ, of course. Today the B-24's will go after Hollandia. Washington is headed North again for another bombardment of Manado. The fighters at Manado might do harm to the transports needed to transport 503rd PIR to Sidate so they will have to be dealth with.

Sangi: Not exactly sure where Sangi is exactly...about 20 hexes North of Lautem, between Sulawese and Mindanao I excpect so this must be the TBF squadron at Ternate. Darn good shooting but I'm not sure why they weren't armed with torpedos. Probably didn't add any to VII Fighter Command inventory. I think the DD escorts had been stripped by the subs over the past two days. I suspect these TK's were inbound for Borneo (unladen)? If so the Empire may have decided they did not need oil from Sumatra. The subs on duty there never find anything. At this point, JJ will have deduced that Ternate is now dangerous.

Sorong: Some Bettys go after the SCTF at Sorong. P-40K's are flying LRCAP from Boela, about 200 miles away. Not very efficient and the pilots are getting tired, but we hae to make do without the CV's. I pulled the CVE's back well southward because of the threats from Hollandia and Manado.